Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of 1-15 in the reply filed on 06/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 5-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (Zhang, US 2022/0208780) in view of Wang et al. (hereinafter Wang, US 2022/0270972).
In regards to independent claim 1, Zhang teaches a three-dimensional memory device, comprising:
an alternating stack of insulating layers and electrically conductive layers overlying a semiconductor material layer (Zhang,, dielectric, conductive and substrate, [0040], [0050]), wherein the alternating stack comprises multiple staircase structures that are arranged along a first horizontal direction (Zhang, Fig. 7A), wherein the multiple staircase structures comprise first staircase structures that are interconnected to each other by widthwise sidewalls that laterally extend along a second horizontal direction that is perpendicular to the first horizontal direction (Zhang, 702-1, 702-2, [0102], Fig. 7A), second staircase structures that are laterally spaced from the first staircase structures, and third staircase structures that are laterally spaced from the first staircase structures and from the second staircase structures (Zhang, 702-4, [0102], Fig. 7A);
memory openings vertically extending through the alternating stack ([0038]);
memory opening fill structures located in the memory openings, wherein each of the memory opening fill structures comprises a respective vertical stack of memory elements and a vertical semiconductor channel (Zhang, [0038], NAND); and
Zhang does not explicitly teach at least one retro-stepped dielectric material portion contacting the first staircase structures, the second staircase structures, the third staircase structures, a first surface segment of a top surface of the semiconductor material layer located between the first staircase structures and the second staircase structures, and a second surface segment of the top surface of the semiconductor material layer located between the first staircase structures and the third staircase structures.
Wang teaches at least one retro-stepped dielectric material portion contacting the first staircase structures, the second staircase structures, the third staircase structures, a first surface segment of a top surface of the semiconductor material layer located between the first staircase structures and the second staircase structures, and a second surface segment of the top surface of the semiconductor material layer located between the first staircase structures and the third staircase structures (Wang, [0050-0063], Fig. 1A-1D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhang and Wang before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the three-dimensional memory taught by Zhang to include retro stepped dielectric material of Wang in order to obtain a three-dimensional memory with retro stepped dielectric. One would have been motivated to make such a combination because it electrically isolates the staircase structures from each other.
In regards to dependent claim 5, Zhang teaches wherein the multiple staircase structures comprises:
ascending staircase structures of which horizontally-extending surface segments have a stepwise-increasing height profile that increases stepwise along the first horizontal direction (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-2); and
descending staircase structures of which horizontally-extending surface segments have a stepwise-decreasing height profile that decreases stepwise along the first horizontal direction (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-1).
In regards to dependent claim 6, Zhang teaches:
the first staircase structures comprise a laterally alternating sequence of first descending staircase structures and first ascending staircase structures that alternate along the first horizontal direction; the second staircase structures consist of a second descending staircase structure and a second ascending staircase structure; and the third staircase structures consist of a third descending staircase structure and a third ascending staircase structure (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-1-202-6).
In regards to dependent claim 7, Zhang teaches wherein: each of the first ascending staircase structures comprises a respective set of (K+1) horizontally-extending surface segments; each of the first descending staircase structures comprises a respective set of (K+1) horizontally-extending surface segments; the second ascending staircase structure comprises a set of (K+1) horizontally-extending surface segments; and the third descending staircase structure comprises a set of (K+1) horizontally-extending surface segments (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-1-202-6).
In regards to dependent claim 8, Zhang teaches wherein each of the first ascending staircase structures, the first descending staircase structures, the second ascending staircase structure, and the third descending staircase structure has a same lateral extent along the first horizontal direction (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-1-202-6).
In regards to dependent claim 9, Zhang teaches:
the second descending staircase structure comprises a set of (K+3) horizontally-extending surface segments; and the third ascending staircase structure comprises a set of (K+3) horizontally-extending surface segments. (Zhang, Fig. 2A, 202-1-202-6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, and 10-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/WILLIAM C TRAPANESE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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